Hot at home: Saints burn Oyster River

Thursday

Sep 27, 2007 at 9:39 AMSep 27, 2007 at 9:54 AM

By Mike WhaleyAssistant Sports Editor

DOVER — There's no place like home, and in soccer there's no place like home field.

The St. Thomas Aquinas High School girls soccer team relishes playing on its roomy home turf, and Wednesday the defending Class I champion maximized its digs with two second-half goals to knock off neighboring Oyster River, 2-0.

The Saints (7-2-0), who lost at OR earlier this month, 1-0, used a goal from senior midfielder Sia Karamourtopoulos in the 54th minute to take the lead and then added some cushion in the 63rd minute on Julia Chin's chip shot from the 25 that sailed into the back of the net for the two-goal lead. It was Oyster River's first loss, dropping the Bobcats to 7-1-1.

After an even first half, which saw the Saints have several chances early and the Bobcats reciprocate with two opportunities late, the two entered the second half scoreless.

Karamourtopoulos's game winner came off a right-wing push by Jillian MacDonald, who carried the ball for a good 25 yards angling in from the right sideline before centering the ball from inside the 18 to an open Karamourtopoulos, who one-timed the pass from the top of the box into the right corner past OR keeper Jilliane Friel.

"I told her to look for the middle and she made a good run and always sends good balls" said Karamourtopoulos. "And it just worked out for the best. My teammates made all their runs and I made mine and I just happened to be open.

"Four different people from the front all the way to the back lunged on that and left it wide open," said OR coach Lynda Nelson. "That's why she got that clear shot with nobody in front. That was our first serious breakdown."

"Jillian has really good vision," said STA coach Gary Finley, "and sometimes if you have a couple of seconds to take a look and when you're that accurate. It's kind of like being open in basketball. It's a lot easier to hit the shot when you have the chance to set it up. And she did and Sia was making a good run. That was something we talked about at the half, making better runs and looking for better options."

Between these two teams, a one-goal lead didn't mean a done deal, but two goals, that was a different story. Nine minutes later, Chin controlled the ball at the 25 and lofted a high shot at the goal. Friel (seven saves) was out of the goal and was unable to backpedal enough and time the ball to prevent the goal which nestled into the back of the net.

"That kind of finalized it, I think," Karamourtopoulos added. "The first goal kind of got us going and gave us confidence for the second one."

"I think we fatigued because we had a really hard game against Souhegan (3-2 win Friday in Amherst)," said Nelson. "We have six or seven players who are seriously hurt that were still playing out there. It was just a matter of the heat and playing on a big field and three or four with the flu bug kind of thing going on."

In the opening half, STA's best chances came when Kelsi O'Neil had the ball inside the box, but her pass to the middle was knocked out in the 8th minute. In the 16th minute Allison Grace put a good shot on goal but right at Friel.

OR finished off the half with two good chances, both by Eliza Roy-Webb on shots from the left to the right, one of which was saved by Alyssa Smith (three saves) and the other angled wide and out of bounds.